A nurse’s journey back to study
Perioperative nurse Karen Neaton contemplated returning to study for several years but always found the prospect ‘too daunting’. Once her children finished school and moved out of the family home, she decided it was finally time to take the plunge and pursue further education. The last time she had undertaken study was in 1991 when […]
A successful transition from the city to a quiet life on the farm
When I embarked on my journey to become a nurse in 2001, I never in a million years thought I would be where I ended up today. I was your typical city chick, always with a made up face, in a beautiful dress and always in high heels. Today, I sit here exhausted after being […]
The knowledge of ageing nurses
Registered nurse Shirley Allott retired a few months ago, aged 65, after spending the past two decades working in aged care. Her body began showing signs of decline years earlier, with hearing and vision loss and arthritis increasingly problematic. “Some years before I got hearing aids I denied my hearing loss and when I got […]
Keeping the legacy of Gayle Woodford alive
Associate Professor Sue Lenthall was waiting to board a plane at Sydney Airport when news filtered through that the body of her friend and colleague, remote area nurse Gayle Woodford, had been found in a shallow grave. The nurse on duty at the health clinic in the remote South Australian town of Fregon, Gayle went […]
Keeping the legacy of Gayle Woodford alive
Associate Professor Sue Lenthall was waiting to board a plane at Sydney Airport when news filtered through that the body of her friend and colleague, remote area nurse Gayle Woodford, had been found in a shallow grave. The nurse on duty at the health clinic in the remote South Australian town of Fregon, Gayle went […]
Working in refugee health
Newly arrived refugees and asylum seekers receive most of their direct healthcare from nurses, so it makes sense that we have an organisation representing nurses working in refugee health. Sandy Eagar, the national chair of Refugee Nurses of Australia says the organisation was founded in 2016 to bring refugee nurses together and provide a forum […]
Forging a successful nursing career
National Health Workforce Dataset (NHWDS) figures show almost 16,000 newly registered nurses and midwives entered the professions in 2016. Earlier this year, 26-year-old New South Wales resident Thomas West joined the next generation when he began a 12-month transition program at St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney designed to arm him with the skills and knowledge […]
Experience of a lifetime
“Everyone is different and everyone will have a different experience. You cannot comprehend it until you’re here,” says Queensland emergency nurse Bambi Reichman who has been working in Saudi Arabia for the past ten months. Bambi says she came to Saudi Arabia at a time in her life when she felt the need for a […]